Her Name was Perseverence
by FreezeCullen0096
Summary: Bella Swan is a seventeen year old girl with one last wish, a series of blank audio tapes, and no clue. Edward Cullen is a technological wiz with a tape recorder and free time. Hey Stephenie Meyer, put THAT one in a blender! ExB
1. syringes & cringes

**AN: So my first chapter of my first story on this account. I'm excited! :D Guys, I know I told you this would be my lemon account, but I'd much like to start with a good old regular story. It's got a T rating and it will be filled with loads of amazing plot bunnies, so feel free to read and review. I would appreciate some reviews anyway, just saying. Check it out. **

** What if they met under completely different circumstances? What if Edward was just the tape boy? And Bella just the beginning of the mix? How will their lives blend together when their stories are told through the speakers? **

I flipped the tape, turning it to side A and preparing to listen and review the story I hadn't thought twice about since I'd met the voice behind it. I remembered without a doubt the brunette hair, the big chocolate eyes, the rose tinted cheeks that matched the glowing smile between them. The hair didn't stay for long, and the smile faded inch by inch everyday that her condition got worst, even so, she never gave up. Perseverance is the act of persisting or persevering; continuing or repeating behavior, of continuous strife for succession. That's exactly what she did.

_Giggles begin after fifteen seconds worth of subdued silence. _Pause.I look to the photo posted next to the stereo; its only purpose to serve as refuge for the many tapes left in my possession. A small girl with brown eyes smiles back at me from the piece of film, her wide smile stretching leaps and bounds. Her hair, in this picture no longer flows in round curls around her face, they stand in small tufts and patches on her bruised and battered skull. The tufts stand next to blue and purple welts which cover a large percentage of her skulls surface. She was a trooper.

I hadn't intended to develop any type of relationship with this girl. I hadn't even meant to be her friend really. We'd gone to school together. I was in the AV club, and she was in need of a favor, which I had been happy to oblige. Play. _My name is Bella Swan. Um, I'm seventeen and um I… I have leukemia. The doctors say that it has progressed pretty far. So I decided making these tapes was a pretty good idea. Edward, hold the tape recorder up right or I'll come out sounding all weird and far away when we finish up this side and play it back, she scolded as she smiled openly at me. I nodded._

_ Her mother, Renee, lifted an eyebrow at me in question. I shrugged as I held the recorder back up right. My arm was falling asleep. One of the oncologists walked in and pulled up Bella's chart from the edge of the bed where he was leaning forward playing with the tags that held her chart to the bend of it. She pulled her hands away and lifted herself easily from the bed as the doctor approached. As Bella trailed him out of the room and into another, my arm promptly fell from its stiff position holding the recorder to the bed sheets. Renee looked at me with a pitiful smile, and took the recorder from my hand as we both trailed after the doctor and Bella._

_ The doctor, in normal procedure, looked over Bella's chart for a couple of minutes nodding and reacquainting him self with the information on it. He then proceeded to type on his computer in the corner of the room. When he was done with that, he turned to open a drawer behind him and dug through it. It contained a serious of tools I was sure I'd seen on a number of regular doctor's appointments. He moved a set of plastic wrapped tools that looked like toothbrushes over and pulled out a syringe. Bella cringed. __(An: eeep, I rhymed! :D)_

_Her eyes took on a look of pure fearful anticipation as she eyed the doctor who was filling the syringe with a clear liquid from a small glass container. I looked at her and thought quickly before getting up and grabbing her hand and rubbing soothing circles in it. She smiled gratefully at me before her gaze moved swiftly back to the large needle the doctor was now approaching her with. I squeezed her hand, but her gaze stayed glued to the needle before her. _

_ "Relax Isabella, there's nothing to be scared of", the doctor said in a thick Italian accent. I wanted to throw something at him. Doctors always said these kinds of things to children, tricking their poor childish minds into thinking that it "wasn't so bad." It would only hurt Bella more when the she actually got the shot. She patted my arm as the hostility on my face shown bright when my gaze landed again on the doctor in front of me. She was the one he was about to impaled with a sharp object, and she was comforting me? The girl had no sense of self preservation. I turned to look at her. She looked literally sick to her stomach. I rubbed her back, and before I could register my own actions, kissed her forehead. Renee looked between the two of us. I could almost see the mental gears in her head turning at a rapid pace._

_ The doctor aimed the syringe at a vain pulsing in the middle of Bella's wrist. She gulped and leaned into my arms, as I continued to rub her back in continuous circles. She blanched and winced as the needle slid easily through the skin in her lower wrist. I kissed her forehead once more and whispered to her how brave she was, how this was going to help. I whispered to her what a trooper she was, and how I would hold the recorder upright for the rest of the week if she got through this. I earned a chuckle from her at this comment._

_ The doctor smiled, chuckling as he emptied the sample of blood into an empty container and set it on a shelf for a nurse to pick up later. "That wasn't so bad, now was it Isabella?"He said, his thick accent ringing out to the annoyance of my irritated mindscape. Bella hugged me after she hopped off of the cushion she'd been perched on. Renee winked at me when Bella turned her head into my shoulder. The gears in her head were probably tumbling off of their hinges, and rolling right out of the back door, taking the nerve endings with them because the smile on her face grew wider and wider with every sign of affection I showed Bella. Bella giggled as she clung to me. "Mom, I think your eyes are falling out of your sockets", she laughed. Renee composed herself and tuned down her Cheshire cat grin, and turned to walk out the door, Bella and I not far behind her. End tape 1, side A. _

**AN: So what'd you think? Was it pretty decent, or am I going to ingles tonight for some marshmallows to go with those flames? Eh, it was ok in my opinion, it'll get better. In all honesty, this really should have sparked your attention. I mean, she has cancer! Did that not make you double take? **


	2. Rage and argumentives

**AN: Well this is spectacular. I promise that as long as I'm writing, they'll always be a few thousand words, so they won't be superbly long, but they'll always be long enough. Please continue to read and review! (Notice how much I mention this in each author's note?) ~Freezecullen**

I struggled to decipher the feelings or whatever it was I had with Bella. We weren't even supposed to be friends. We were just supposed to help each other out. I got my AV kick out of recording and documenting her life through the tapes and she got her wish for a story of her own, by her and told by her. I had no complaints really. I just wanted to know where we stood at this point. _"That's just it", she'd told me one day as we set up the tapes and recorder to begin her documentary; "We don't stand at all. We're just partners for now, working towards a common or similar goal."_

_ She stood for a moment staring at me. She didn't move or say a word for about five seconds just stood stalk still until she composed herself and shook her head, her brunette locks flying around her face as she did so. "Edward lets not drag this out into some out of the blue friendship built on pity; ok? We'd just be doomed from the start if we tried to be friends", she practically begged me. I froze winding the tapes up for recording and looked at her, scrutinizing. She seemed to be uncomfortable with the situation as she coughed and suggested that we just get back to work._

_ I complied, not willing to test her patience so soon. We worked quietly, each of us focusing on the task at hand, neither of us wanting to be the first one to give in and try to prompt some awkward conversation. I decided to give in and delve deeper into the mystery/ enigma that was Bella Swan. "So, why exactly are you doing all this, and why me?" She stopped abruptly, setting the tape she was working on down, and breathed in a sigh. I need people to remember me. "I don't want the last image of me in everyone's minds to be the pitiful sick girl with no hair, who is helpless and can't take care of herself." I stared at her, making calculations in my brains, the full effect of what she was trying to explain to me still not completely sinking in._

_ "Edward, I'm not going to live forever, and I'd like to be remembered in a more positive light when my candle burns out…" I still didn't follow. She was a seventeen year old girl. She was young, and yeah, she wouldn't live forever, no one does, but she still had a lot of time. I think she saw where my thought process was taking me as she gently cupped my hands and took the recorder which I had been working on setting up and fixing to record and set it aside. "Edward, two months ago, I was healthy and happy. The headaches and constant stomach bugs, and clumsiness were just thought to be another unfortunate addition to my personality. All of that changed when I started to realize that it wasn't normal."_

_ Here, I interrupted her. "If you feel sick, you should visit a doctor", I offered her as sort of an absolution. She shook her head, completely brushing off my advice. "Edward, I did; that's what I'm trying to tell you. I went to a doctor, and he found something __**unusual**_**. **_I lifted an eyebrow in question. She ignored me, and continued on. "I went from one doctor, to another and another, and another. They all told me the same thing. They all said it could be treated. They all said I had nothing to worry about. They were all the same. On March 30__th__, they were all proven wrong." "Edward, I've been diagnosed with leukemia…" She sighed as she rung her fingers together nervously waiting for me to do or say something to assure her that I'd heard her._

_ I didn't move. I didn't respond at all. My brain was working frantically through all the medical journals I'd managed to memorize/remember from my father's office at home. I began looking through my thoughts for everything I knew about cancer and the different types and all their effects. My mind slowed and stopped abruptly, the nerves in my brain dropping the files they'd managed to rummage quickly through and scan for information. I then began to panic. Bella Swan; sweet, innocent, quiet Bella Swan, daughter of the chief of police of small town Forks, was sick. To add to that unfair predicament; she had cancer. She had leukemia. …It could be cured, couldn't it? I wracked my brain for sensible answers. I recalled one of the articles I'd gotten into once while helping Carlisle clean up his file cabinet._

**The types of leukemia most likely to occur in teens are ****acute lymphocytic**** (pronounced: lim-fuh-****sih****-tik) ****leukemia**** (ALL) and ****acute myelogenous**** (pronounced: my-uh-****ladj****-uh-nus) ****leukemia**** (AML).**

**Virtually all people with ALL and AML are treated with chemotherapy, and some also receive ****stem cell transplants****, in which they are given new stem cells from another person. Bone marrow transplants are a common form of stem cell transplantation. Some people also receive radiation. The length of treatment and types of medicine given will vary depending on the type of leukemia.**

**The chances for a cure are very good with certain kinds of leukemia. With treatment, most patients with ALL and many patients with AML are free of the disease without recurrence.**

_"There are doctors who can help you, I choked, still rummaging in my mind for some piece of info that would allow more insight into her condition; they can cure you. There's radiation, and chemo-therapy, and they can…" She interrupted me here, not letting me finish. She put her left hand up in a sign for me to be silent. She shook her head. "No, Edward; I've done all that, everything, and it's no use. I can't be saved and it'll just be a waste, continuing to fight a lost cause." I shook my head, opening my mouth to object, but she stopped me once again repeating her hand signal for silence. _

_ "Edward, I don't want to fight anymore, it'll only hurt more. I've done radiation, I've been through chemo at least twice now, and I'm sick of it; the doctors say that my body has stopped responding to treatment, and that the medication isn't doing its job." I stared at her, lost for words. "Honestly, I was scared for a while, but… I know I'm going to die, Edward; I know it, and it's best to just not fight that anymore; I'm not scared of what's coming Edward." My mind was whirling, tripping over itself as I thought about what she was saying to me. I couldn't believe it, she was just… without even fighting, just accepting the unacceptable…_

_ I lost it. "Is that why you want to do all this! Is this your plan! You're just going to give up and let your life slip away from you!" "Edward, please!" She tried to sooth me. I ignored her, my mind seething with anger, with sadness, and denial. "No Bella! You're seventeen; there's so much more you have to do; you can't just give up! That's not how it works!" I thundered at her. I didn't register the warm, salty tears that were running down my face as I continued to rage at her. She didn't waste her time in silence, as I took a minute to breathe._

_ "This isn't some damn game, Edward! How would you even know anything about me or what goes on in my head! I'm virtually a stranger to you!" She shot back at me. "Don't you think for a fucking second that I'm not scared!" She thundered as her body wracked with sobs. "I'm seventeen Edward! I haven't even graduated yet; I won't get married; I won't get to have children; I won't get, nor have I ever gotten a chance to really live!" She sobbed in frustration and fear. "I'm not stupid Edward: I understand that!" She raged as she backed against the wall in her small living room, falling to her knees and sobbing._

_ I don't know what triggered it, but I knew she was right. She was right about some of the things she'd said. I of course, was in no way accepting what she believed to be her eventual death, but I knew she wasn't stupid, and I knew she understood her condition. Honestly who else, even among the doctors, would know her body better than she did? I walked towards her, ignoring her when she wriggled away from my embrace, and held her close as she continued to sob. I knew right then, that only I would develop feelings for a girl so fast. I rubbed her back soothingly, reminding her how much I disagreed with her, but understood her perspective on the matter. The thoughts came to me out of the blue, and I had no record of where I'd heard them before but I continued to murmur them to myself. __'_**Be still; persevere.'**

**AN: so how am I doing so far? Was it any good? Does it make sense, and more importantly, should I have issued a tissue alert? Oh well, too late. Please, keep reading, and it would really put a smile on my face if you reviewed. Well until the next update, bye! ~FreezeCullen (or maybe it's not goodbye if you click on the link in my profile and follow me on Twitter). ;D**


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